The Visual Oral Narrative of Rajasthan

AdLitteram: An English Journal of International Literati ISSN: 2456 6624 December 2018: Volume 3 PHAD : THE VISUAL ORAL NARRATIVE OF RAJASTHAN Santosh Kanwar Shekhawat* The oral narratives cannot be studied in isolation as some of the narratives have complements in the form of paintings (Phad, Kaavad, Pichwai), puppets or dances. In such narratives, narrative and visual art act as stimulants to each other. Such narratives gorgonize the audience because of perfect synchronization between audio-visual modes of narration. The study of such narratives provides a scope to study and understand the relationship between verbal and visual art forms as well as between producers and consumers of art form. O.P. Joshi, a renowned folklorist on the basis of his research asserts that the study of such art forms offers an excellent scope for anthropological studies. An art form being an institution, the study of its structure provides a platform to understand the intricate yet interesting interactive patterns between the creator, the critic and the public. (1976) As Raymond firth also expresses, “Art is one of the high points in individual expression, a vehicle for conveying intense and refined emotion, which can be recognized as of universal order when they are is dated. But all art is composed in a social setting; it has a cultural content”. (2013, p.162) Again to quote Joshi; “The social context of art includes technical skill, material, ideas and social skills, material, ideas and social environment in which it is created and consumed. The elite art has its own sphere........ similarly a piece of folk art belongs to social gatherings. A folk artist does not create simply for his aesthetic satisfaction”. (1976, 08) 173 *Assistant Professor, Dept. of English, Maharaja Ganga Singh Universiry, Bikaner Ad Litteram: An English Journal of International Literati ISSN: 2456 6624 December 2018: Volume 3 The oral narratives in which paintings are used as complements to narration are popularly known as Chitrakatha (pictorial narrative). This mode of storytelling is quite popular in South Asia and is believed to have its roots in pre Buddhist pictorial narrative traditions. India houses a rich tradition of Chitrakatha. One of the most popular forms of Chitrakatha is ‘Par’, popularly known as ‘Phad’. This 700 years old narrative form has its roots in Shahpura, a princely state of Rajasthan which is at a distance of 35 Kms from Bhilwaradistrict. Some believe Pur, a small village near Bhilwara to be the traditional home of the origin of phad. Phad gets its name from the Sanskrit word patt i.e. a flat painting surface. In Rajasthan language phad means a fold. Both the meanings are significant because phadsare painted on flat surface (cloth) and are folded (rolled) during transit. John Smith on the basis of his research reports that the earliest phad is dated to 1857 while colonel James Tod assigns it the year 1819. Pabuji’s phad scroll represents events and episodes of Pabujis’s life. His palace, his court, the forts and sanctum of goddess Deval are represented. John D. Smith opines that in phad events are depicted in terms of place of occurrence and hence chronological pattern is not followed. (2005) Icnographically phadcontains the intricate pattern of myriad images depicted logically. William Dalrymple, a renowned historian describes the depictions on phadas, panorama of medieval Rajasthan: Women, horses, peacocks, carts, arches, battles, washer men and fisherman, kings and queens, huge grey elephants and herds of white cows and buff camels, many-armed demons, fish-tailed wonder creatures and blue-skinned gods, all arranged around the central outsized figure of Pabuji, his magnificent black mare, Kesar Kalami, and his four great companions and brothers in arms. The sequence of 174 Theme: “Telling the Tale across Mediums: The Teleology of Multiple Lives of a Work” Ad Litteram: An English Journal of International Literati ISSN: 2456 6624 December 2018: Volume 3 images painted on the Pabuji Ki Phad is: the main deity Pabuji is at the centre and to his right is his court which his four principal companions, on the left of main daily is the court of Buro, his brother. At the extreme left is Umarkot and at the left edge, Lanka. To the right of Pabuji’s court is the court of the Lady Deval (goddess of Kolu). At the far right of the painting is Khichi’s court. The blank spaces in between are depicted with scenes of Pabuji’s journey from Rajasthan to Umarkot, and also images of Ganesh Saraswati and Vishnu in different incarnations that are painted at the top of the Phad or par. (2009) At this point it becomes necessary to have a glimpse of life history of Pabuji. Pabuji was a 14th century warrior hero hailing from the Dhandhal Rathore clan of the Rajput rulers of Marwar. His father ruled over a village named Kolu. His older brother was Buro and his sisters were Sona and Pema. Khichis of neighboring kingdom had encroached their land, to evict which a battle was fought in which young Pabu participated and killed Jindrav Khichi’s father. Although later to pacify Jindrav’s anger he got his sister married to him but of no avail. Infuriated Jindrav was in search of appropriate opportunity to avenge his father’s death. Pabu’s niece Kelam was married to his contemporary, snake deity Gogaji. He had promised camels to Kelam as wedding gift so he went to Lanka to fetch camels. On his way back home the happened to pass through Umarkot. Princess PoolvatiSodhi of Umarkot fell in love with him. When he went to Umarkot to wed Sodhi he borrowed KesarKalmi, a mare from Deval Charni on the assurance that he would 175 Phad: The Visual Oral Narrative of Rajasthan | Santosh Ad Litteram: An English Journal of International Literati ISSN: 2456 6624 December 2018: Volume 3 protect her cows. When he learned that Khichi had attacked and abducted Deval Charni’s cows, he cut his nuptial knot and left his wedding rituals unaccomplished and returned backed to rescue Deval Charni’s cattle for he was highly comminuted to his promises. JindravKhichi offered him tought fight in the fierce battle that took place between them and ultimately Pabuji fell martyr at a young age of twenty four and was canonized as a Bhomya, a folk deity. ElizabetWickett describes him as a “Patron deity .......reputed to have been a 14th century hero”. (2012, p.10) She further says, “Pabuji is worshipped as a local deity by herdsmen, nomads and those who pursue a livelihood based on animal husbandry in the harsh terrain of the Thar Desert.” (2012, p. 11). Pabuji is the presiding deity of Raika (Rebari), a camel rearing community of Rajasthan occupying low status in the social hierarchy. Phad scrolls were traditionally prepared on hand woven khadi cloth for it is more durable. The prominent themes of phad scrolls are the peculiar social contexts and relationships that were the hallmark of the times of their origin. These visual narratives depict the wondrous stories of heroic men and women i.e. the legends of folk heroes who scarified their lives in the battlefield or who died for some social cause. Such heroes are endowed with cultic power. Traditionally phad were based on exploits of the folk deities Pabuji and Devnarayan who are considered to be the incarnation of Vishnu and Laxman respectively, signifying the vernacularisation of the classical epics. The epic narration is a way to express gratitude to the divine hero and also to invoke him for healing diseased animals, for health, wealth and prosperity of human beings and for protection from evil powers. It is noteworthy 176 Theme: “Telling the Tale across Mediums: The Teleology of Multiple Lives of a Work” Ad Litteram: An English Journal of International Literati ISSN: 2456 6624 December 2018: Volume 3 that Pabuji is worshipped for worldly ends and the traditional Hindu concepts of spirituality and moksha (salvation) find no place here. The additional benefit of the phad performance is the wholesome entertainment of the spectators/audience by the lively performance. The Chippa painters and Bhopa singers collaboratively infuse life into this religio- cultural rural musical narrative tradition. The caste of Chippas who have been involved professionally in painting phads, historically belong to Joshi clan of Bhilwara. The narrator of phad are folk singers known as Bhopas, an itinerant story teller caste from north western district of Jodhpur and Nagour with their roots in a village named Pabusar. Most of the Bhopas come from Nayak Adivasi(tribal) community. The Bhopa community associated with ancestral ritualistic tradition of phad narration differentiates themselves from other adivasi Bhils based in pastoral region practicing hunting and farming. They are privileged to occupy higher social status within their community owing to their legacy of the phad tradition. From its advent until the end of 18th century this story telling tradition enjoyed royal patronage of kings and feudal lords, therefore the Bhopas initially led nomadic life, taking seasonal routes, performing for their patrons. At the threshold of 19th century the royal patronage gradually declined and the Bhopas adapted to the situation by setting to semi nomadic lifestyle. Further, with the annihilation of feudal power after independence, the Bhopas lost patronage and thus the art form received a great setback. Consequently the phad painters and narrators migrated to big towns and cities and it resulted in commercialization of the otherwise strictly ritualistic art form. 177 Phad: The Visual Oral Narrative of Rajasthan | Santosh Ad Litteram: An English Journal of International Literati ISSN: 2456 6624 December 2018: Volume 3 The phad painters do not have a particular style and neither do they belong to any specific school of painting.

Load more